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TRANSCRIPT
Life in the 1950s
Readjustment and Recovery
The Impact of the GI Bill
• 1944 GI Bill of Rights eases
veterans’ return to civilian life
• Pays partial tuition,
unemployment benefits; provides
loans
Housing Crisis
• 10 million returning veterans face
housing shortage
• Developers use assembly-line
methods to mass-produce houses
• Build suburbs—small residential
communities around cities
Redefining the Family
• Tensions from changed gender roles during war increase
divorce rate
Economic Readjustment
• Over 1 million defense workers laid off; wages drop for
many workers
• Price controls end; 25% increase in cost of scarce
consumer goods
• Congress reestablishes price, wage, rent controls
Remarkable Recovery
• People have savings, service pay, war bonds; buy
goods long missed
• Cold War keeps defense spending up; foreign aid
creates markets
Meeting Economic Challenges
President Truman’s Inheritance
• Harry S. Truman can make difficult
decisions, take responsibility
Truman Faces Strikes
• 1946, higher prices, lower wages lead
4.5 million to strike
• Truman seizes mines, threatens to
take over railroads
• Threatens to draft workers; unions
give in
“Had Enough?”
• Republicans win Senate, House;
ignore Truman’s domestic policy
• Congress passes Taft-Hartley Act,
overturns many union rights
Social Unrest Persists
Truman Supports Civil Rights
• African Americans, especially
veterans, demand rights as
citizens
• Congress rejects civil rights laws;
Truman issues executive orders:
- integrates armed forces; ends
discrimination in government
hiring
The 1948 Election
• Southern Democrats—
Dixiecrats—protest civil rights,
form own party
• Truman calls special session; asks
Congress for social legislation
• Congress refuses
Stunning Upset
• Truman defeats Thomas E.
Dewey in close political
upset
• Democrats regain control of
Congress, lose some
Southern statesThe Fair Deal
• Truman’s Fair Deal is
ambitious economic
program, includes:
- higher minimum
wage, flood control
projects, low-income
housing
• Congress passes
parts of Fair Deal
Republicans Take the Middle Road
I Like Ike!
• Truman’s approval rating drops
over Korean War, McCarthyism
- decides not to run for reelection
• Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower runs
against IL governor Adlai
Stevenson
• Newspapers accuse VP candidate
Richard M. Nixon of corruption
- defends self in televised
“Checkers speech”
• Eisenhower wins; Republicans
narrowly take Congress
• Eisenhower conservative about
money, liberal on social issues
• Ike tries to avoid civil rights
movement, which is gaining
strength
• On economy, works for
balanced budget, tax cut
• Pushes social legislation, new
Dept. of Health, Education,
Welfare
• Popularity soars; is reelected in
1956
Employment in the U.S.
• By 1956, majority of Americans not in blue-collar (industrial)
jobs
• More in higher-paying, white-collar (office, professional)
positions
• Many in services, like sales, advertising, insurance,
communications
Conglomerates
• Conglomerates—corporation that owns smaller, unrelated
companies
• Diversify to protect from downturns in individual industries
Business in the 1950s
Franchises
• Franchise—company offers similar products, services in
many places
- also the right to use company name and system
• Fast-food restaurants among first, most successful
franchises
Social Conformity
• Many employees with well-paid, secure jobs
lose individuality
• Personality tests see if job candidates fit in company culture
• Companies reward teamwork, loyalty, encourage conformity
The Suburban LifestyleThe Baby Boom
• 1950s, 85% of new homes built in suburbs
• 1945–1965 baby boom—soaring birth rate after
soldiers return. From 1947 – 1953: 25 million babies
Advances in Medicine and
Childcare
• New drugs fight, prevent
childhood diseases
• Dr. Jonas Salk develops
vaccine for polio
• Pediatrician Dr. Benjamin
Spock writes popular guide
for parents
Women’s Roles
• Magazines, TV, movies glorify role of homemaker, mother
• Over 1/5 of suburban wives dissatisfied with
their lives
• 1960, 40% mothers work; limited opportunities, less pay than
men
NEXT
Leisure in the Fifties
• Shorter work week, paid vacation, labor-saving devices free
up time
• People have time for recreational activities, spectator sports
• Book, magazine, comic book sales climb rapidly
Automania
• Cheap, plentiful gas, easy credit,
advertising increase car sales
• No public transit in suburbs; cars
necessary
The Automobile Culture
The Interstate Highway System
• Local, state roads link cities,
suburbs to schools, shops, work
• Interstate Highway Act (1956)
—nationwide highway network
unites country: 41,000 miles.
• Highways enable long-haul
trucking, new towns, family
vacations
• Towns near highways prosper;
those near older, smaller roads
decline
Mobility Takes Its Toll
• Auto boom stimulates new businesses—
e.g. drive-in movies
• Cars create social, environmental problems—
e.g. accidents, pollution
• Upper-, middle-class whites leave cities; jobs,
businesses follow
• Economic gulf widens between suburban and
urban
- also widens gap between middle class and the
poor
New Products
• 60% of Americans in middle
class; twice as many as before
WW II
• Consumerism (buying material
goods) equated with success
• Numerous new products appear
on market in response to
demand
Consumerism Unbound
Planned Obsolescence
• Planned obsolescence—
making products that get
outdated, wear out
- makes consumers buy or want
to buy new ones
Buy Now, Pay Later
• Credit purchases, credit cards
(1950), installments extend
payment period
• Private debt grows; consumers
confident of future prosperity
The Advertising Age
• Most people have satisfied
basic needs; ads encourage
extra spending
• Psychological appeals in ads
lure consumers to particular
products
• Ads appear in all media;
television emerges as powerful
new tool
New Era of the Mass Media
The Rise of Television
• Mass media—means of communication
that reach large audiences
• TV first widely available 1948; in almost
90% of homes in 1960
• Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) regulates communications
• By 1956, FCC allows 500 stations to
broadcast
• Programs: comedies, news, dramas,
variety shows, children’s shows
• Lifestyle changes: TV Guide is popular
magazine; TV dinners
The Beat Movement
• Beat movement—writers,
artists express social,
literary nonconformity
• Poets, writers use free,
open form; read works
aloud in coffeehouses
• Beatnik attitudes, way of life
attract media attention,
students
A Subculture Emerges
Rock ‘n’ Roll
• Black musicians add electric
instruments to blues—rhythm and
blues
• Rock ‘n’ roll—mix of rhythm and
blues, country, pop
• Has heavy rhythm, simple melodies,
lyrics about teenage concerns
• Music appeals to newly affluent
teens who can buy records
• Many adults concerned music will
lead to delinquency, immorality
African Americans and Rock ‘n’ Roll
The Racial Gap
• Many black artists play jazz,
music characterized by
improvisation
• African-American shows
mostly broadcast on black
radio stations
- content, advertising target
black audiences
• Important to black audiences
with fewer TV sets, no
presence on TV
The Urban Poor
White Flight
• 1962, 25% of Americans below poverty level
• Post WW II–1960, 5 million blacks go from rural South to
urban North
• White flight results in loss of businesses, tax payers to cities
• Cities can no longer afford to maintain or improve:
- schools, public transportation, police and fire departments
The Inner Cities
• Poverty grows rapidly in decaying inner cities
• Poor economic conditions lead to illness and terrible
conditions
Urban Renewal
• Urban renewal—replace rundown buildings with new low-
income housing
• Housing and Urban Development Dept. created to improve
conditions
• Not enough housing built for displaced people
Mexican Immigrants
• 1942–47, Mexican braceros, hired hands, allowed into U.S. to work
• After war, many remain illegally; many others enter to look for work
Native Americans Continue their Struggle
• During Depression, U.S. policy of Native American autonomy
• National Congress of American Indians: civil rights, maintain customs
• U.S. stops family allotments, wages; outsiders take tribal lands
The Termination Policy
• Termination policy cuts economic support, gives land to individuals
• Bureau of Indian Affairs helps resettlement in cities
• Termination policy is a failure; abandoned in 1963
Minority Groups